Castle Hill – Cambridge, UK
Emily P. looks out across Cambridge from the city’s highest point (January 10, 2015)
King’s College, University of Cambridge – Cambridge, UK
On our first tour of the city, we were able to see the largest university chapel in the world (January 9, 2015)
For those of you who know the series, you would have figured out just from the title of this blog that this is about Harry Potter. Being in the home of Harry Potter, it is only fitting that we would take a trip to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios just outside of London. For any Harry Potter fan who comes to the UK: GO SEE THE STUDIOS. It was the most amazing thing. My face was frozen in a perpetual smile, and I think I even cried. Seriously, go see it.
I went with three friends to see the studios on Friday. Naturally, since there were four of us, we all had to dress up as a student from each of the four houses. I was the only one wearing green, so I ended up being from Slytherin. We completed our ensembles with chapel robes borrowed from Westfield House next door. We had people stop and take pictures of us because of how dressed up we were.
Our first stop was King’s Cross Train Station, where we stood in line and took pictures at Platform 9 3/4. Since I was from Slytherin, they let me wield the wand of Voldemort. I felt quite powerful, and I’m pretty sure that I cursed a lot of other people in our line. Oh well.
Going to Hogwarts at Platform 9 3/4
The studios themselves were fascinating. There were so many different sets to see. They had sets from Harry’s bedroom, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Ministry of Magic, Harry’s house on 4 Privet Drive, and so many more. They saved a ton of props and costumes from the movies and had them on display as well. My favorite had to be Dumbledore’s office. It was a little bit smaller than I imagined, but other than that, it looked exactly like it does in the movies. Everything was there, including the sorting hat sitting on a shelf. We had a great time taking pictures in front of everything and reliving our childhoods in the days of our youth when we first read and watched Harry Potter. It was truly a magical (no pun intended) day.
Harry’s and Ron’s Outfits from “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”
Dumbledore’s Office
The Great Hall
I felt that the title for this blog was appropriate not only because of its reference to Harry Potter, but because our time in Cambridge is coming to a close. We are nearly through with this semester, and I have to say that I don’t know where the time went. It seems like yesterday that we were all meeting each other for the first time and getting on a plane to fly halfway across the world. I know that I speak for everyone in Cambridge when I say that this has been an unbelievable semester, and that we will cherish the memories we have made here when we return to Valpo.
Last weekend, the entire group embarked on our last trip together to see all sorts of castles around England. We also made stops at other places of historical significance. It was a great last trip for everyone to take together, and we had a lot of fun.
First, we stopped and visited Warwick castle. There are many different parts of the castle that were built and rebuilt over the years, some by the Normans, some during the Tudor reign, some much more recent. The oldest part of the castle, however, dates all the way back to the Anglo-Saxons, who lived in England before William the Conqueror and the Normans invaded. It was fun to climb the towers and walk around the outside of the castle.
Warwick Castle
Our next stop was in Stratford-upon-Avon. This was where William Shakespeare was born and lived with his family. We went through the house where he was born, and visited other houses of various family members, such as his daughter Susannah. He was probably one of the most wealthy in the town, because the rooms in the houses were huge (for that time) and had real glass windows. Most people would not have been able to afford glass, so that just showed how wealthy he and his family were.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
The best part of the day was when we saw the Royal Shakespeare Company perform “Love’s Labour’s Lost.” This play is not nearly as well known as many of Shakespeare’s other plays, and was only recorded to have been performed in England three times during the 1800s. They set the story during the early 1900s in England, and had amazing sets and costumes that resembled those of Downton Abbey.
In Bath, we visited the Roman Baths. Bath was a very different kind of English town, because it really didn’t feel English at all. I felt like I was back in Italy, which makes sense, since this was an old Roman city. It’s amazing that the baths are still in such good condition for being as old as they are. They still had the natural hot spring running nicely, and it was cool to get to see something that old and that historical.
Roman Bath House
On our last day, we stopped for a cold and rainy hour to see Stonehenge. After that, we travelled to Surrey, right outside of London, and visited Hampton Court Palace. This was by far my favorite thing that we did. I am especially interested in history surrounding the Tudor monarchs, and was ecstatic that I got to see Henry VIII’s rooms. One of the hallways is said to be haunted by the ghost of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, and people have reported seeing her ghost running toward the chapel to beg for her life from King Henry, and hearing her screams as she’s dragged away.
Stonehenge
Hampton Court Palace
It is getting right down to the end of the semester, and I think everyone is excited to go home, but sad to be leaving Cambridge. We have done so many things and experienced so much that our perspectives have changed, and we have truly made Cambridge our home. It’s been a thrill so far, and I can’t wait to see what these last few weeks have in store for us!
It was a nice change of pace from our big trip to Spain and Italy, because instead of there being ten of twelve of us all traveling and trying to go places at once, there were just a few of us. We got to spend a lot of time leisurely walking around and seeing whatever we came across.
We trained up to Edinburgh on Thursday night, which, with all of the train changes, is nearly a five hour journey. We made it in the middle of the evening and had a chance to walk around and look at all of the Christmas lights. Because it was the weekend before Veteran’s Day (or Armistice Day, as it is officially called in England), all of the gravestones at the churches and cathedrals had poppies on them in honor of those who were killed during World War I. It was very pretty and also very moving to see that sort of large scale memorial.
One of the things that Scotland is most known for, besides bagpipes and kilt, is Scotch Whiskey. There are so many distilleries all over the country that brew different kinds of scotch. While we were in the city, we took a tour of a distillery in Edinburgh and got to try scotch from different regions of Edinburgh. We also got to stand in a room that houses the world’s largest scotch whiskey collection. All in all, a fun afternoon.
On Saturday, we trained up to Inverness, Scotland, the city that is closest to Loch Ness. In the afternoon, we took a boat tour of Loch Ness. Our boat’s captain was a very nice old man who let us each take turns driving the boat. He was a member of the Loch Ness Investigation team back in the 1960s, and recorded one of the first camera sightings of the supposed Loch Ness Monster. He showed us a video about all of the work he did, and gave us some explantations for what Nessie could be. It was a very interesting tour, to say the least.
View from Loch Ness
That evening, we went to a pub called Hootenanny’s. This was my favorite part of the entire trip because we got to sit and listen to (or dance to) traditional Scottish music for three hours. The live band consisted of an accordion player and a guitar player. The accordion player is actually pretty well known, because not only is he a musician, but he has his own band and is also a professional athlete in a sport called shinty. The guitar player was one of the most talented musicians I have ever heard in my life, so it was a great night to get to sit and listen to the two of them.
This weekend, we’re traveling as a group to several castles, Shakespeare’s birthplace, and Stonehenge. Hopefully it’ll be a fun way to wrap up our time abroad, which for most, is quickly drawing to a close. We’ll all be back in Valpo before we know it!
The second part and majority of our ten day break was spent in various towns in Italy. From Barcelona, we flew into Milan where we spent a day. We walked around and saw the Duomo (which is just a really big cathedral), and walked around the city. We didn’t get to do a whole lot else, because our train to Venice was that night, but that was perfectly fine with me.
Venice was by far my favorite city in Italy. When we were planning our trip, I was pretty indifferent about everything we planned to do in Italy. However, I am so glad that I went along because Venice was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. It was a gorgeous day outside, and we spent an afternoon eating gelato and taking a gondola ride down the canals of Venice. Venetian glass is one of the biggest , and there were at least three shops down every little street. It was a wonderful day of relaxing and browsing the stores.
From Venice, we visited Florence. We went into the museum that houses Michelangelo’s statue of David, and saw the Duomo in Florence. My favorite part of our day in Florence was when a few of us climbed up to Michelangelo’s plaza, which was on top of a hill that overlooked the entire city of Florence. It was a long walk, but worth the trip, because we got to see the city at sunset and watched all of the city lights come out.
Florence
After a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower, we made our way to Rome. There are a thousand and one things to do in Rome. Everywhere you turn there is some ruin, cathedral, or plaza that houses something of interest. We were quite disappointed, because both the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain were under construction and we couldn’t live out our childhood Lizzie McGuire dreams of throwing a penny into the fountain and then riding on the back of some Italian guys motorcycle to go off and become a pop star. Oh well, you can’t win them all :).
We still got to see a lot of things, like the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Hadrian’s Temple, and Trajan’s Market, just to name a few. The coolest thing to see was the ruins of the Roman forum. We had a really good tour guide through the area, and that made it all that more interesting. These ruins are surrounded by modern city buildings, and if they weren’t there, it would have been impossible to know that the Romans had once conducted business there. It was one of those moments where I felt like I was going back in time and stepping into a historical moment.
The Colosseum
The Roman Forum
We also spent a day in Vatican City. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful, but the best part was seeing St. Peter’s Basilica. First of all, this church is massive. I have never seen a church so big in my entire life, and I have seen quite a few cathedrals. Second, it was absolutely stunning. The painted ceilings were so intricate and well kept, and the statue of Mary holding the dying Jesus is also there.
Our trip was definitely worth the time and effort we put in to planning it. Coming soon is our weekend trip to Scotland, to Edinburgh and Inverness!
It has been a long ten days of vacation. Yesterday, many of us living in the house returned from our second big break. We all went to Spain and Italy and visited six cities in ten days. It was a very busy week of traveling and sightseeing, but it was worth all of the planning and money we spent, because I had a fantastic time. Because of the amount of things that we did, I can’t possibly fit it all into one post, so I’m going to focus on the first part of our trip in this post.
After classes ended, we all flew from London to Barcelona. At our hostel, we met up with our Valpo friends Caitlin and Bethany, who are studying in Grenada, Spain, this semester. It was nice to meet up with them, and be able to reunite with some people from Valpo!
The next day, everyone except me went on a bike tour of Barcelona, and I heard nothing but good things about it. I don’t really enjoy riding bikes, so I spent five hours wandering around Barcelona on my own. I walked down to the pier and saw a statue of Christopher Columbus. I also stopped in at a very beautiful cathedral and sat in the courtyard and read a book. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon because I got to see the things that I wanted at the pace I wanted.
Pier in Barcelona
View of Barcelona
On Saturday, a few of us went to Sagrada Familia. This cathedral has a really interesting history. The architect who designed it was born in the early 18oos. The cathedral has been under construction since the 1800s and is set to be completed in 2026. It was my favorite place that we visited. The cathedral is unlike any other cathedral I have ever seen. The designs on the ceiling look like suns, and the pillars inside create an optical illusion that makes you think that they’re standing up straight, when they really stand at an angle. And the stained glass was absolutely stunning. I would love to be able to go back and see the cathedral in 2026 when it is finally finished, because I know it will be that much more incredible inside.
Stained glass windows in Sagrada Familia
One of the angled pillars inside Sagrada Familia
The weather in Barcelona last weekend was absolutely beautiful. Temperatures were between the upper 70s and lower 80s, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Because the weather was so nice, and we were all on vacation, we went to the beach our last afternoon. I laid on the beach for literally six hours and just enjoyed lying on a blanket, soaking up the sun and sleeping. It was a perfect way to end our time in Barcelona.
Next to come: Italy!
Barcelona Beach
On a cold and windy Tuesday night, we all joined the Amber Army. Everyone went to go see Cambridge United Football Club play. Their colors are amber and black, and their supporters are called the Amber Army. Even though we’ve only lived in Cambridge for a few months, we jumped right into the action just as if we’ve always lived been here.
It was a fantastic experience to get to go to an English sporting event. First of all, I love football (or soccer, if you prefer). I was a manager for the girls’ soccer team in high school, and took stats for all of their games, which means that I understand what’s going on, and I enjoy it. Second of all, I am a big sports fan, and have missed the sports in the United States. It was nice to get to go to a sporting event again and cheer on a team.
In football, there are different levels of play. The ranking system is comparable to that of baseball. In baseball, there are the Major Leagues, AAA leagues, AA leagues, and so on. In England, there are different levels. Cambridge United is a Level Four team, which is lower down on the scale. That meant that the stadium was smaller, the game was much more low key, and we got to sit one row up from the field. The smaller scale definitely made the game much more intimate because we were so close to all the action, and so tightly packed with all of the other spectators.
The football culture in England is like a cult. Football is the new religion of England. Everyone goes to games, and everyone is a fan. The English take their football very seriously. The fans are way more vocal than they are in the United States. They chant cheers constantly, sometimes even chanting back and forth with the opposing team’s fans. There was a drum that was drumming out a beat from time to time, and at one point, I think people were singing. None of us knew any of the chants, but we quickly picked it up. Cambridge United ended up losing the game 2-1, but I would say that the overall experience was a success.
Tomorrow, we all head off to Spain and Italy for our second break! We’re headed to Barcelona, Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. When we get back, I’m sure I’ll have lots to say about the things that we did!
Like much of Europe, England is home to many very old, very large churches and cathedrals. This just goes to show you how important Christianity was many years ago. The spread of the Christian faith was so vast, and extended to all parts of the world. This past week, we were exposed to several different ways where the influence of Christianity remains.
Earlier this week, we traveled twenty minutes by train to the town of Ely where we visited Ely cathedral. One of the most interesting things I found about this trip was not about the cathedral, but about Ely itself. It used to be called the Isle of Ely because it was, in fact, an island way back in the day. It’s a town located in the Fenlands, which is very wet and marshy, and before the marshy were drained, the town was actually an island, which I think is pretty cool.
Many parts of the Cathedral were build by the Normans and date back to the 1100s. It has a beautifully painted ceiling depicting different images of the genealogy of Christ. The painter who painted each section died halfway through, and he was replaced by someone else to finish up the mural. You can tell where one artist’s work stopped and the other’s began–the color blue used by the second artist was a little more vibrant than the first.
As for the rest of the cathedral, it was very plain and not nearly as colorful as the ceiling. This is because the walls were whitewashed during the reign of Henry VIII when he decided that he was going to be the head of the Church of England and went around plundering the wealth of the church. The walls of the cathedral were whitewashed, and the statues either had their heads removed or defaced, or they were completely destroyed. In some places, you can still see faded outlines of fleur-de-lis on the walls where decorations used to be.
On Wednesday, we walked just a few minutes down the road to the Round Church. This church is unique because of it’s shape. Just about every cathedral and church built during the first couple of centuries is in the shape of a cross. The Round church is special for just that reason: it’s round. The architecture also dates back to Norman times, and has seen the town of Cambridge grow and develop from a time when it was a trading town to its evolution into a university town.
Also on Wednesday, we shared common meal with Westfield House next door. Westfield is a seminary, and many of the students that we met were there either for their undergraduate work looking toward church work, or to become pastors. Not only is Christianity’s influence still present in the cathedrals and churches, but it was also present in this tiny group of people from the seminary.
Ely Cathedral
The Round Church
During a week when just about everyone is traveling the Continent, yesterday, the few of us left in Cambridge decided to venture to London for the day. We got up early and made our way down to the train station, and in less than an hour, we were pulling into King’s Cross. It still amazes me how easy it is to get places around here. There’s always a bus, train, or taxi going the places you want to go.
My favorite part of the day came first, when we stopped in at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Admission was free, which is always an added bonus for a college student. This museum, first of all, is absolutely huge. It has lots of big columns and marble floors and high ceilings with interesting looking chandeliers. I saw a bunch of marble statues, some from ancient times, a lot that tried to mimic Renaissance style statues. I also really enjoyed a section of paintings, where there were a lot of landscapes that reminded me of the plains and the mountains in Colorado.
The jewelry section was by far the most fascinating section. There were so many pretty pieces of jewelry in that room. As I am fascinated with royalty, it was especially cool to be able to see several different tiaras and crowns. It makes me wonder what it would have been like to wear a crown. I know that there’s a responsibility that comes with wearing a crown, but I also think that it would be really fun to get dressed up and wear a crown for an event every once in awhile. I wish we had spent more time at the museum, because there were so many more things besides what I saw.
After the museum, we went to Hyde Park. Earlier in the morning, it was rainy and cloudy in true London fashion. When we got to Hyde Park, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds, and we got to see a little blue sky and sunshine before it began to rain again. I love nature, and I think it is wonderful that there is a big park like that inside such a large city like London. It gave me a little taste of the country inside the city, and I loved that. I loved the big trees and the little hills, and that we could walk by the water for a little while. I didn’t even mind the geese :).
In the afternoon, we went shopping at Harrod’s and on Oxford Street. For me, window browsing was enough of an experience without busting my bank account. I wonder how much Harrod’s and everything in it is worth, because literally every big name is housed there. Gucci, Prada, Coach, Dior, Louis Vuitton. You name it; they were there. It is interesting to see just what people will spend hundreds of dollars on because it’s designer.
Traveling while abroad is important, because you get the chance to see different historical things and visit places you’ve always heard about, but never seen. But it is also important to explore and get to know the place you are living. I would encourage anyone who comes to Cambridge to take the time to get to know the city of Cambridge, and take whatever opportunities you have to go into London for the day. It is so nice to have that kind of big city so close and accessible, and you should absolutely take advantage of it if you can.
Helen of Troy
One of those interesting chandeliers in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Hyde Park
The extravagant Christmas section in Harrod’s
Before our lovely excursion to Wales last weekend, the group had a whirlwind of a week. We were booked with a number of fascinating things to do that gave us a better perspective of what life used to like in Cambridge, and what English culture is like today.
The first thing that we did was visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford Air Field. This air field is where pilots went to train during World War II. On display are many old airplanes from different wars, and even pieces from a Nazi plane that was taken down. There were also a lot of interactive activities where you could see how they make a hot air balloon fly, or understand what a plane looks like when it is flying into the wind.
My favorite part of the Imperial War Museum did not have to do so much with the planes, but the people involved with them. One section of the museum was dedicated to pictures and profiles of British veterans who served during World War II. Many of them were paratroopers who parachuted down into France during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. I always get emotional with anything that has to do with the military, but these struck me as even more special than before. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the beaches of Normandy. Many of these veterans were standing in places that I had visited. I felt the enormous weight of history on me, and I am very grateful to them for risking their lives so that I can travel here and look at their pictures and see their stories.
Our week continued when we went to Newmarket for the Rowley Mile Horse Races. A lot of us had never been to any kind of horse racing back in the US, and we weren’t quite sure if we would like it. By the end of the day, however, I think we all would have agreed that it was a lot of fun. Horse racing in the UK is different from the US in several ways. The biggest way is that they horses race along a flat, straight-lined track, not in a circle. In the US, you watch the Kentucky Derby, and it’s an all day event with only one race that’s a few minutes long. Our day was also quite long, but we got to see seven different races. We had fun picking horses and betting on which ones we thought would win.
It was a fun week full of lots of culture and events. This week marks our first week long break, and just about everyone is traveling to parts of Germany and France, with some going to Austria and the Czech Republic. Classes at Anglia Ruskin have also started, so for those of us not taking a class at the Study Center, it is nice to finally get going and have some other work to do. I’m looking forward to sitting around and reading books for fun :).
Until next time!
Aeroplane at the Imperial War Museum
Piece of a Nazi aeroplane from World War II
One of the horses being paraded at Rowley Mile
Group at the races
Photo credit: Breezy Scheffer
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